Tides
by nightshadess
Summary: Embry Call imprints on an injured werewolf who appears in the woods one day. Only problem is she doesn't believe in imprinting. Embry/OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Claws

Little twigs fell from the forest's tree branches and drifted down until they landed gently on one of the many puddles scattered about. The storm had left everything more muddled than usual. Owls were hooting in the night, despite the chaos from the storm, and the deer were slumbering peacefully in their hidden homes in the forest. Lying near one of the puddles was a girl. The animals thought that she too was sleeping peacefully, but she was not.

Her black hair looked browner since it had a thin film of mud over it, and the tips of her waves ended up being drenched in a nearby puddled. Bruises and cuts littered over her skin, and the blood pouring from a dark gash on her neck was mixing with the watery mud right beside her. The clothes on her back were tattered, exposing the large claw marks on her shoulder.

Sam came across her motionless body during a late night stroll in the forest, which he had done to clear his thoughts, but they had only grown more cluttered when he came across the enigmatic girl. First thing he did was check if the gash on her neck was a product of a vampire's bite: it wasn't. He knew better than to leave a stranger lying pathetically in the forest ground and carried her in his arms out of the shadowy, dank forest.

When he reached his house with the girl, Emily greeted him with a smile that faded quickly when she saw the girl. She dropped the dishrag in her hands into the sink and hurried hastily over to the sofa where Sam was placing the mysterious girl.

"What on earth happened?" Emily said, kneeling down before the girl. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know," Sam answered with a sigh. "I was only walking through the forest and I found her lying there covered in her own blood."

Emily's eyes darkened. "You don't think…"

"No. Their scents aren't on her. The wound on her neck must be from something else. Do you have any clue of who she could be?" Sam asked, sitting down on an armchair next to the sofa.

Emily shook her head no. "I'm going to get the first aid kit." She got up. "The other's aren't coming for dinner, right?"

"No, they're all busy tonight."

* * *

Lilia eyes fluttered open. Bright lights surrounded her. For a second, she wondered if she were dead, but realized she wasn't when she saw she was lying on a soft sofa. Bloodstained bandages covered the wounds around her arms and legs. She touched her neck and saw that it too was bandaged. Her bare feet were still covered with grime.

"Oh, hello!" a woman said.

Looking up, Lilia saw a woman with black long hair and dark skin. An old scar that ran across her face caught Lilia's attention, but she decided not to question in it, despite it peaking her interest. In her hands was a tray with a bowl of soap that she placed on the table. "I see you woke up. How are you feeling?" she asked with a warm smile.

Lilia stared, tilting her head to the side in puzzlement. The hard strands of her mud-covered hair tickled her cheek.

"Does your head hurt? Do any of your wounds feel odd?" she asked, trying one more time.

Lilia shook her head slowly, her neck stiff. She glanced at the soap.

"You look hungry. Go ahead, eat up." The woman sat beside Lilia.

Glancing at the soup, she felt her stomach growl with desire; however, she suddenly felt shy and nervous. The sight of the foreign spoon next to the bowl of soup made her swallow hard. Could she give it a shot without coming off as a feral animal?

She shook off any thoughts of attempting to use the spoon and grabbed both sides of the bowl and brought it tentatively to her lips. The hot liquid ran down her throat, burning it a little until it splashed into her stomach, making her stomach growl for more.

"Where are you from?" the woman asked. "I'm Emily by the way."

Lilia's responded only with silence.

Emily blinked. "Do you know where you are? You're in La Push. La Push, Washington." She waited for an answer. "What's your name?"

Lilia cleared her throat. "I'm Lilia," she said, her voice hoarse and weak.

Emily's eyes widened at the girl's sudden voice. "Oh, well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lilia. Can I ask where you got all these injuries?"

"Other… other werewolves," Lilia whispered, as if she didn't want anyone else to hear. "Looking for me. Left home." By now it seemed she was no longer speaking to Emily, and only to herself as if she had just remembered the events.

"What? Other werewolves?"

Lilia nodded quickly. "Looking for me. Want dead. Did this to me." She pointed at the wounds covering her skin.

A man walked in. He too had dark hair and copper skin, and widened his eyes when he saw the girl he found in the woods awake next to Emily. "Uh, Emily, could I speak to you?"

Emily nodded and walked over to him, where they went outside.

"When did she wake up?" he asked in hushed tones.

"Just now. She seems very… distant. It looks like she hasn't spoken in months. Her sentences are all choppy and she's still in alarm."

"Did you find out anything?"

"Well, at first she refused to talk and just stared at me like I was crazy, but she only told me her name is Lilia and that other werewolves were out for her?"

"Was she looking for our pack or something?"

She sighed in frustration. "I don't know."

Without another word, he walked back inside and stood in front of Lilia who stared at him in bafflement. The bowl of soup was empty, but the spoon was left untouched. He studied her swarthy face and her dark narrowed eyes. "Where are you from?"

"Texas."

He glanced at Emily who shrugged in confusion.

Sam crossed his arms across his chest, dubious about the mysterious girl. "Where is the rest of your pack? Did they come with you or did you break off from them?"

She frowned, jaw clenched. "They're dead."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Flames

It was early in the morning. Emily's oatmeal was cooling down as she watched Sam read off a crinkled sheet of paper that he printed out before bed the night before. She watched with curiosity, wondering what it was that engrossed Sam so much.

"Anything new lately?"

Sam put down the paper and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. "Uh, yeah. I did some research about other rumored wolf packs in the US in some of these weird, mythological websites."

"Did you by any chance find anything about Lilia?" Emily mumbled as she glanced at the girl in the living room.

Lilia slept nearby in the sofa. Her hair was softer and cleaner now, and she wore some of Emily's old clothes. Yet, a vibrant red still surrounded her wounds, worrying Emily very much. Weren't werewolves supposed to heal almost immediately? She brought a spoonful of oatmeal to her mouth before Sam started to talk.

"Surprisingly, yes." He picked up the sheet of paper again and quickly skimmed his eyes across the printed words. "There are two wolf packs in Texas. There's one dominating the north. The other lies in the south. They'd been in conflict ever since the southern one moved there from Central America around 300 years ago. The Northern one is always being attacked by the Southern one."

"That means Lilia must be from the North, right? It only makes sense; she said her pack was dead. The Southern werewolves must've killed them. And somehow the girl ended up here in Washington."

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I need to ask her more questions, but I think it's best not to wake her for now. She probably needs her rest."

Emily nodded, despite knowing that Lilia had already slept fifteen hours.

°•°•°

Lilia sat upright in one of the chairs near the table. Emily sat beside her as Sam took a seat in front of both of them. Sam had the crinkled sheet of paper with him as reference as he started to fire questions at the girl, who was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and yawning every few minutes. Bags were still shadowing her eyes.

"I did some research online, and I read a couple of things, like that there's two rivaling wolf packs living there. How true is this?" he said, looking at the silent girl skeptically. Her silence threw him off. Perhaps it was due to the fact that all the werewolves he'd dealt with were loud, wild, and particularly messy eaters. The girl was tranquil, yet she gave off a strong an ominous air with her burning dark eyes.

"There used to be smaller packs, but they were slaughtered as well," she replied, glancing with interest at the paper in his hands.

Surprised by the girl's fluid speech, he raised his eyes. Hours before, her speech was choppy, almost as if she hadn't spoken to another human in weeks, perhaps months. "Speaking of slaughtering," he continued, "you say that your pack was killed right? What can you tell us about that?"

Lilia frowned and brought her eyes to the inquisitive, strange man, her back leaning against the wooden chair lazily and her arms crossed securely over her chest. She cringed as she felt pain shoot up her back. It appeared she was still quite sore. "What really is there to say? They were killed."

"Well, we learned there was a Northern pack and a Southern pack back where you're from," Emily added in sheepishly with a frail smile.

Lilia looked at her, eyebrows furrowed in shock.

"You're a part of the Northern Pack, right? That's what we were speculating originally. We read that the Northern Pack was always under constant attack…" Emily stopped speaking, noticing Lilia shaking her head.

Sam frowned, looking down at the paper in his hands. "So, you're saying they're not the weaker pack?" Perhaps the information he'd found wasn't so true after all. After all, this was werewolf packs they were talking about.

Lilia scratched the itching scar on her forehead pensively. "No, no, they are. But I was a part of the Southern Pack. They surprised us one night. We were always one of the strongest packs, but we were caught off guard. They killed most of my pack, I think. I don't remember…"

"So there's a chance there are still other members in your pack who are still alive, lost?" Emily asked softly.

Lilia brought her hands to her face and covered her eyes, flashbacks from the night of the attack bombarding her mind and blinding her vision for a few split seconds. She could feel beads of sweat being tempted to form on her brow and eyes shaking in panic beneath their lids. Flames licked the shredded remains of their homes. Throats being ripped stifled their screams. Younger wolves were torn apart, their flesh left hanging on nearby tree branches.

"I don't know," Lilia muttered, teeth gritted, hands trembling. "I can't hear them in my thoughts, not anymore." She felt empty, as did her mind from the absence of the gossiping she wolves and shouting males. "Maybe."

"How many were there in your pack before all this?" Emily said. Sam was petrified as he watched the young werewolf suffer from her flashbacks. He couldn't imagine losing his pack, especially to something as brutal as an attack. It was much like being orphaned, except much worse. The emotional bonds connecting her to her pack mates had been severed, leaving her with only fading memories.

Lilia breathed, her heart slowing. Her jaw loosened and she choked back the pools of tears in her eyes. "Around thirty, I don't know. The younger ones weren't really considered a part of the pack. They could hardly control themselves from shifting in public, much less do as they were told by an alpha."

Lilia leaned her head back against the sofa and closed her eyes. Seizing the opportunity, Emily seized Sam's arm urgently and brought him outside of the room into the hall. She knew that Lilia was able to hear their conversation, but knew it would be rude to talk about her in the same room.

"She needs to stay with us," Emily told him, feeling quite motherly over the young girl she'd just met. She'd never been orphaned nor witnessed a loved one being lived on the spot, but she felt as though she needed to help this girl.

Sam scratched his head in frustration. "I don't know. What if her other pack finds her? What if they think that we're hurting her and they attack us? I feel like we're risking too much by just letting her in here."

Emily scowled, scoffing. "They'll understand! If they found out that we just sent her back to the woods they'd be just as mad."

Sam sighed, knowing very much that Emily was right. The moment he found Lilia in the woods and carried her, he had unknowingly accepted responsibility over her. He was responsible for bringing her back to his home and healing her, and eventually finding out answers as to why she was in the woods. Yet, he would have to explain it to his pack, and there was the possibility that they wouldn't like the idea. Then, he worried that they would like the idea maybe _too_ much. He knew how teenage boys got around girls.

"Fine, she can stay," Sam breathed out, immediately starting to worry whether it was the right thing to choose or not, but stuck with it anyway. "As long as she behaves and doesn't start a war, and until she can find a place of her own with another one of her pack members."

Emily's scowl twisted into a smile from hearing this and hugged him tight briefly. Deep inside, she knew that he would say yes, but the look of disquiet on his face while pondering made her hope so anyway. After releasing him from her tight, almost suffocating, embrace, she said in a low, yet thankful voice:

"Thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Humanoid

Embry and the other younger wolves waited outside of Sam and Emily's house, their stomachs growling loudly for food. The four of them were waiting for Sam and Emily to finish up their supposedly important conversation. From just outside of one of the windows, Embry could see Sam running a tense hand through his hair as Emily was saying something to him sternly. Sam was their alpha, and they all knew that very well, but it was always a surreal sight seeing Emily order him around the house at times. Yet their conversation looked odd. Sam never looked so frustrated around Emily. The two of them hardly ever fought. They were practically the definition of a perfect couple… no wonder Leah was always so grumpy around them.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Embry thought out loud, but wanting to know.

"Dunno," Quil grumbled in return, rubbing his stomach and groaning. "Hopefully they'll finish up soon though. I'm starving over here."

A few silent moments later, the front door swung open to reveal Sam ordering them to come inside. Just as quickly as the door had swung open, the young werewolves shoved past each other into the small house. Embry growled after the other wolves had elbowed and shoved him in attempt to get in first. Jacob, Quil, and Jared had just finished early morning patrol with him, and they were already digging into the bacon and eggs that Emily set out on the table.

"How you doing, Embry?" Emily asked as she leaned against one of the walls, rolling her eyes at the sound of Quil moaning in pleasure while he wolfed down several strips of bacon. "How come you're not eating?"

"Eh, I'm surprisingly not very hungry."

Emily raised her eyebrows. "That _is_ surprising. Huh. You sure I can't cook up something quick for you? I'd hate for you to get hungry later…"

"No, that's fine, but thanks."

She shot him a skeptical look and clicked her tongue. "Okay, if you say so." Hearing the clattering of several spoons coming from the breakfast table, she rushed over to the boys furiously. "NO! Jared don't you dare even try to fling those fried eggs at Quil again! NO! NO!"

Embry made his way into the living room, not wanting to be around the pack for a while. He had to admit that being with his friends was nice. They were almost like brothers to him. But at times they grew to be irritating, especially knowing that his responsibilities to the pack were costing him his relationship with his mom. He used to have a close relationship with his mom, but now just thinking of her made his stomach wriggle with dread.

That morning, his mom had scolded him the moment he stepped foot out of bed after a long night of patrol. It would be the same old words as every morning, but every time the words just seemed to hit Embry in the gut harder and harder. It would leave his breathless, like an actual blow to his stomach. _Tell me, when did you come home last night? At 5 AM? What the hell were you doing that late at night? You were hanging out with Sam Uley's gang weren't you? You can't tell me? Why can't you tell me? I am your mother! You should tell me everything! _Then she would sigh. _Sometimes I wonder if things would've been a bit different with your father in the picture. _

Sometimes Embry wondered the same thing as well. Except he had no clue as to whom his father could be. Surely, he was a shape shifter just like him. At times, he would forget that there was a man somewhere out in the world, maybe even on the reservation that was his father. He wondered if he'd actually met him. He wondered if he'd walked past in him the grocery store before, or if he'd accidently bumped into him at the school parking lot. His father was exactly that. Just a stranger. Nothing more.

Embry sat down on old burgundy colored recliner in the corner of the living room. Everything was silent. He wished that he'd brought some music with him. But then, as he relaxed, he started to hear some soft breathing. He glanced around. As far as he knew, Sam had no pets. So, who could be sleeping in the living room at this time of day?

He looked over at the larger sofa and saw a girl lying on it, covered with a teal blanket. All he could see were her closed eyes, her scarred bronze skin, and her black, wild curls. Her lips were pink and supple, but the dark shadows lurking below her eyes were what threw him off.

"There you are," Sam's voice said from behind Embry. At the sound of the alpha's voice, Embry jolted in his place and clutched his heart. "I thought you'd be eating with the rest of the pack."

Embry relaxed and shrugged. "Not really hungry."

"Shocking," Sam noted. His eyes darted to the girl sleeping on the sofa and dropped his head in frustration. "That's Lilia over there. She couldn't sleep last night. She seems to like the sofa more than the guestroom."

"Who's Lilia?" Embry asked, his curiosity sparking.

Sam lifted his head, his jaw clenching. "Um, a friend of Emily's mom's… daughter. It's kind of a long story. That's what Emily and I were talking about while you guys were outside… whether she should stay with us or not..."

"Isn't it a bit weird to have her staying here while the pack's always running around?" Embry inquired.

"Actually, no, not really," Sam said nonchalantly as he got up. "I'm gonna go eat some breakfast before it's all gone. Feel free to watch some TV or whatever. Just don't wake Lilia up."

Once Sam left, Embry grabbed the remote on the coffee table and switched the TV on. He jumped at the noise that blared from the TV screen. A curse slipped from his mouth under his breath as he quickly lowered the volume. The sound of a weak groan came from the sofa. Embry froze and placed the remote on coffee table again. He bent his neck over to peek at the sofa and saw the once slumbering girl squirming in place and stretching her legs under the crinkled teal blanket.

The girl sat up, her eyes still closed as she rubbed them with her hands. Her curly hair was disheveled and frizzy and the bloodstained bandage on her neck was peeling in one corner. Finally, her dark brown eyes fluttered open and blinked several times. She focused on Embry and frowned in confusion.

"Who are you?"

But her words seemed to have vanished in the air before they could reach Embry. He stared at her in awe, his heart beating so fast it felt like just one long beat. He felt like he'd seen her before, like he'd known her for all his life. But the feeling that spread through his limbs when his eyes connected with hers was so foreign, yet addictive. He just couldn't seem to break eye contact with her. It would be like letting go of the one person's hand hanging from a cliff.

But he did.

"Are you alright? Why are you not talking?" the girl asked.

He shook himself out of the trance and laughed nervously. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I was just zoning out."

"Okay. You must be a part of Sam's pa—"

"Hey, Embry!" yelled Jacob from the entrance of the living room. "What're doing all alone here? Quil said he was gonna eat all your food if you didn't claim it." His dark eyes fell on the mystified girl sitting on the sofa and Embry facing her. The look on Embry's face was dark and full of exasperation. He wanted to get to know the new girl in front of him, but Jacob had to interrupt their newborn conversation. "Oh. Who's this?"

"Jacob, don't wake her!" yelled an angry Emily, the sound of her sandals clapping growing louder as she walked towards them. "She didn't get any sleep last night and the last thing I want is for you, Jared, and Quil to—" She paused when she saw Lilia sitting up with a confused and sad expression on her face. It reminded Embry of a startled child. Maybe she was shy? Either way, he couldn't help but feel sorry for waking her and forcing her to deal with so many people at once.

"She's already awake," Embry simply stated.

Eventually, all four of the other werewolves were crowding behind Jacob and Emily. Sam sighed loudly in frustration, knowing that he couldn't keep the injured werewolf's stay at his house a secret any longer. He knew how rowdy the rest of the pack would be. He had hoped that if one or two of them had seen her that he could pass her off as one of Emily's distant relatives.

"Could I talk to you four in private, please?" he said loudly.

The four of them followed him into the kitchen, where Emily started eating some of the leftovers that the boys had left, which was a rare occasion. Sam crossed his arms over his chest as he faced the werewolves who were looking up at him with patient eyes.

"Her name is Lilia. She's a werewolf," Sam started bluntly, not knowing how to introduce her without being too confusion.

"You mean she's like Leah?" Quil asked in amazement. "I didn't think there were more girls like her…" he added bitterly. The name Leah had become synonymous to "grumpy, proud she-wolf" to the rest of the pack.

Sam growled at the sound his former girlfriend's name. "Yes, she's like her. I found her injured in the forest. She said another pack attacked her pack and that she's been travelling for months as a lone wolf."

At the sound of this, Embry's heart sunk. He hadn't realized that the girl sleeping in the sofa beside him before had been so damaged. No wonder she looked so shaken and fragile. And he'd just thought she was just some girl—some girl that seemed to have the power to mesmerize him so much with just a simple glance.

"Damn, that sucks for her," Jared muttered under his breath.

Embry glared at him.

"One huge problem is, she'd been in her wolf form for an extended period of time. She's not quite used to… acting human. She doesn't like using eating utensils, she hates using shoes, she doesn't sleep much, and she doesn't like speaking."

"Sounds a lot like Leah, actually," Jared snorted.

Embry shoved him.

"Dude, what the hell was that for?" the foolish werewolf asked him. "It was just a joke!"

"Don't talk about my imprint like she's some freak!" Embry snarled at him, his fists shaking as his eyes narrowed into angry slits.

"Embry, calm down," Jacob muttered.

"Wait, did you just call her your imprint?" Quil blurted with a grin of disbelief on his face. He looked at the others in excitement, but the looks on their faces were of concern and fear. Imprinting on a girl was one thing, but to imprint on a female werewolf who forgot how to be human from a different pack was a completely different thing.

"Yeah, I did. I imprinted on her."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Impossibility

Two days had gone by and Embry still hadn't spoken a single word to his imprint, Lilia. It wasn't that he didn't want to. He was actually dying to get to know her, to be able to make eye contact with her, to hear her voice. But each time he saw her, all the courage and bravery that he invoked within himself would just vanish. She would be busy silently helping Emily wash dishes, occasionally stirring some of the. When Lilia wasn't helping in chores, she was sleeping in the guest bedroom, as if she were avoiding him. The older wolves would ask him during patrol if he'd pissed her off or something. But that was impossible. He hadn't spoken a word to the girl, much less insulted her.

But he did wonder from time to time. When he'd woken her up from her nap the other day, did she get angry with him afterwards? He'd imprinted on her, and she was a werewolf, so surely she knew what that meant. Yet, she never approached him and didn't seem to show any signs of being imprinted. When Sam imprinted on Emily, they connected immediately. Jared and Kim went on their first date the evening they met. Why was his imprint an exception?

He knew this was an imprint, however. All other crushes and girlfriends in his past seemed to vanish from his memory from the moment he met Lilia. Such a powerful feeling couldn't have been from just a flimsy crush. Each time she'd come into view, his limbs stiffened, his skin felt tighter, and his stomach lurched as if urging him to go speak with her. He couldn't help but stare at the imaginary, yet beautiful glow that radiated from her being.

That day Embry was determined to bring this enigma to an end. When he woke up from a restless two-hour long sleep, he vowed to himself that he would approach her, meet her, and get to know her. What was the worse that could possibly happen? From what Emily had told him, she was benevolent, but quiet.

After an early morning gathering, the wolves sat in the living room, some on the chairs, some on the sofa, and some of the younger ones reluctantly on the carpeted ground. Paul and Leah fought over whether to watch a football game or a zombie TV show. In the midst of all the noise and fighting, Embry snuck out of the living room unobtrusively. Embry knew that Lilia sat outside every morning on the last three steps of the patio. Emily had told him this, knowing that he struggled with his relationship with his imprint. Finally, after few seconds, Embry walked out of the house and onto the patio, a gust of cool wind hitting his face.

Lilia sat placidly in the last steps, just like Emily said she would be. She wasn't gazing at anything in particular, but her eyes seem to scatter excitedly around the picturesque landscape in front of her. The colossal trees. The grey sky. The birds soaring. Meanwhile, her chin rested on her hands and her elbows were propped on her knees. She wore some of Emily's old clothes: a black, baggy sweater with white polka dots and dark worn out jeans. Rather than wearing shoes or sandals, she wore only thin, orange ankle socks.

Hearing new sounds, she turned and saw Embry heading towards her. When both of their dark eyes met after a few seconds of reticence, she waved her hand softly. Taken aback, Embry waved his hand in return before he took a seat beside her. He eyed her closely, but not too much, fearing that she would be alarmed by his curiosity. The warm breeze hitting her face blew several loose, black curls back, exposing some of the smaller scars just below her ear. Her doe eyes were dark, but abysmal, filled with buried secrets and cremated memories. She cast her eyes to the ground coyly.

"Hi," he started bravely. "I'm Embry Call." He held out a hand.

Lilia's eyes connected with his halfheartedly. Fearing that she was being rude, she shook his hand briefly with her own. Veins of tingling lightning surged through Embry's hand, finding their way up his arm and to his chest. "Lilia Nieves."

"Nice to meet you," he responded with a warm smile.

She smiled back weakly.

Side by side, they sat together in silence for a couple of seconds. Or perhaps they were minutes? Embry couldn't be all too sure. All that he knew at that moment was that he wasn't accustomed to Lilia's quiet demeanor. Usually, the rest of the pack was disruptive and loud, especially during lunch or any other occasion that involved food. But he couldn't give up on his imprint just because of her shyness.

"So, what're you doing out here?" he asked finally.

Lilia gave a small shrug. "Just trying to get some fresh air. With my old pack we'd always be outside. It was kind of annoying, especially with the mosquitos."

Her old pack. She said it like she already accepted that they were all dead, gone, and never coming back. And now she was deserted and orphaned. A cloudy look retuned to her eyes, one that she had throughout her whole stay while she worked, until Embry greeted her. For those short moments her eyes were filled with light and candor.

"Do you miss them a lot? Embry probed, immediately wishing that he'd just kept his mouth shut. He looked up Lilia with curious but anxious eyes. "Your old pack, I mean. Not the mosquitos."

Lilia laughed. It was such a surreal sound, like the jiggling of bells. It still held the same innocence and bubbliness of a child's laugh, however. Hearing it brought warmth to Embry's chest, as if it'd been frozen and her presence was the sun that was thawing it.

She shook her head and gave him a mellow smile. "I don't know. I was already hoping I could leave them before…"

Embry nodded sympathetically.

"I still hold them dear to my heart though. They helped me through a lot."

Embry thought about his own pack. Paul could be a huge pain with his sporadic temper, and Sam's orders were sometimes a heavy burden on his back, but he couldn't really picture life as a werewolf without them. They'd become a second family for him. If he were ever to lose them, he'd miss them terribly despite all the rough times.

Nonetheless, Lilia seemed to have her doubts about her own pack. How cruel was her old pack before she came here? Sam said the other day that there were around twenty or thirty of them—a lot more than their pack, that's for sure. To make matters potentially worse, female werewolves were extremely rare and probably usually treated as inferiors in packs. How badly did they treat Lilia?

Embry thought all this while watching her closely and tenderly. Her eyes were kind and heartwarming, making him feel so comfortable around her, as if he'd known her all of his life. He noticed the loose curls tickling her jaw would make her growl in annoyance before she tucked them behind her ear, and her feet occasionally tapped lightly against the steps that they rested on. Lastly, he noticed her pink lips. They were so soft and alluring. He swallowed hard, trying to shake the ardent thoughts from his mind.

"You think you've marked me," Lilia said statically. "Just like your alpha marked Emily."

Embry frowned. "Marked?"

Lilia sighed in annoyance. "I think over here they call it 'imprint' or something along those lines." She looked back at Embry with stony eyes. "You think you imprinted on me."

Under she wolf's piercing stare, Embry didn't know how to respond. Was she angry? Her expression was unreadable. All he knew was that she knew what imprinting was. She used a different term, but marking and imprinting were probably the same, right?

"Don't try to hide it. I can tell by the way you were gaping at me," Lilia added in tersely, making Embry flinch from the whip of her sharp words.

"Yeah. Yeah, I've imprinted on you."

An even louder sigh slipped from Lilia's mouth, but Embry couldn't be sure why. Did she not feel the effects? Lilia ran a shaky hand through her curls and glared out at the forest's trees ahead of her. Embry only stared at her, waiting for her to say any word to let him know that everything was going to be okay. Instead, she just shook her head to herself several times, making Embry's heart feel weaker than usual, yet it continued beating anxiously like a drum.

"Is everything alright?" Embry whispered.

"No. My old pack warned me about this," she muttered back, refusing to look at the other werewolf in the eyes.

Warned?

"What are you talking about?" Embry growled.

Brushing the twigs from her pants and straightening out her sweater, Lilia stood up. As he scrutinized her carefully, Embry copied her movements. Patiently he waited for an answer or any movement that could answer the thousands of questions racing through is mind.

Lilia gazed at him once more. Her eyes were stoic and cold as they were when he first saw her. There was no longer any light or warmth in them from when he'd started talking to her.

"Imprinting is nothing but a myth. It's not real, Embry," she stated simply before turning and heading back into Emily's house. Out of panic, Embry grabbed ahold of her upper arm, pulling her back to him.

"Are you crazy?" he exclaimed.

The girl scoffed with just as much incredulity as Embry. "No. There's a reason why my pack was one of the strongest in America, Embry. We didn't believe in weak fairytales."

Embry only stared. This had to be some sort of a nightmare—an imprint not believing in imprinting. Was such a thing even possible? He knew it'd be difficult to bond since Lilia was a she wolf from a foreign pack. The idea of even doubting imprinting never even seemed possible in Embry's mind. Not after seeing Jared and Kim, Quill and Claire, and even Sam and Emily everyday. Imprinting was just as true a fact as gravity. For someone to even think that it was nothing but garbage was absurd.

Embry had always looked forward to the day that he could meet his soul mate, the most important person in his life that he would live and die for. He'd always wondered how she'd look like, what her hobbies would be, whether she'd be tall or short, or even from around La Push. Never once did he wonder whether she would accept or reject him. Lilia's rejection was like a stealthy knife being held to his neck from behind. It was totally unexpected and bloodcurdling.

Instead of breaking down or begging for her to explain what the hell was going on, Embry only laughed. He laughed dryly in her face in complete disbelief. "You're saying you don't believe in love?"

"No. Just not imprinting," she said warily.

"Wow." Embry shook his head, refusing to look into the eyes of the girl that only seconds ago he considered to be an angel, a mysterious, timid angel that was hard to understand but was intriguing. Now, she was only a compassionless serpent in a garden.

"I'm sorry, Embry," she said in a low voice, laying a hand on his shoulder. At her touch, Embry's eyes snapped towards hers. The beauty that seemingly disappeared returned, catching Embry under a spell once again. The creases on his face softened as he turned towards Lilia again and gazed at her with gentle eyes. "I hope we can be friends, but I just don't… I just don't believe in… all of this."

Embry stepped away, still looking at her with glazed eyes.

"I'm going to go help Emily with the dishes if you don't mind."

Before Embry could even utter another syllable, Lilia had already gone inside—with her bright orange socks, her wild curls, baggy sweater. Once the door shut close, Embry dropped to the ground, sitting on the last steps of the stairs. He ran his hand hastily through his hair.

Lilia didn't believe in imprinting.

His imprint had rejected him.

Embry didn't know what to do. He felt like there was only one choice—one thing he could do that could win over her heart.

He would just have to prove it was real.


End file.
